Door Decor

I bought a foam ring at Joann's probably 6 months ago with the intent of making a wreath for the front door. I really wanted to use stuff that I had so, I first wrapped the wreath in the orangey-yellow yarn you see at the bottom right of the wreath. I did not like the color and the more I thought about it, the more terrible I thought it would look on our door since the wood has an orangey tone already. So......it sat in the spare bedroom. For months.

Last week, I found this pretty bluish-gray yarn at Michael's that reminds me of the color in our Master Bedroom. I took a gamble and bought one spool, thinking it would cover the whole thing. It didn't. SO, I had to come up with an alternate plan.

I had some extra lineny-type fabric and hot glued it around the orange yarn.

Then, I added a felt flower and some twigs to the bottom and a banner I made out of metal scrap-booking letters, paper, and twine.

The most time-consuming part was wrapping the yarn, but it was super easy.

All in all, it was a quick morning project!

SIDE NOTE: The awesome table in the bottom of the first couple of pictures was made by my husband! He is super talented, and a post all about the table and the building process is coming SOON!

I have had

It's Fall Y'all

Can you believe it's Fall already?!? I'm so excited to get into some cooler weather, unpack my boots and sweaters, and decorate my house with Fall garb.

The first area of my house that usually gets decorated in Fall attire is the mantel, since it's the focal point of our living room and I look at it EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.

I don't have a whole lot of Fall decorations but also had no desire to spend any money on an updated Fall look, so everything I used was stuff I had around the house or could get for free.

Here's our "blah" mantel to begin with. It's probably been like this since I took last year's Christmas decorations down.

Blah, blah, blah-biddy-blah. That's how I roll. { Come on, you know it sounds TOTALLY natural for "That's how I roll" to come out of my mouth. Ha. }

SO, I got the inspiration from this "pin" on Pinterest. {Side Note: If you have yet to discover the black hole, also known as Pinterest, you've got to check it out! And I mean black hole in the best possible way. It will SUCK. YOU. IN. But it has been a great source of Inspiration}

I didn't have a heart cutter (and I wasn't too keen on the heart shape anyways), but I did have a circle cutter. So, I went with that.

I went to a local home improvement store and picked up a few Fall colored paint chips. The best size for my circle cutter were the square paint chips that contained only a single color. The ones with multiple colors were a little too small.

I cut out a variety of colors, then punched two holes side by side on the top of each circle. I then took some twine I already owned and weaved it through the holes.

I wrapped the twine around the two end mason jars and tied a knot in the back. The green vases on either side are quart size mason jars I spray painted green, and I filled them with twigs from some trees in our neighborhood. {Don't worry. The branches had already fallen. I didn't tear them from their home.}

So, not a super intricate project, but a festive and CHEAP one! Have you decorated for fall yet?

My hubby is 'da bomb' - DIY project

Please don't let your jealousy of my oh-so-hip lingo cloud your view of the main point of this post. (Because we all know 'da bomb' is 'hip'. Not to mention the fact that to say something is 'hip' automatically disqualifies you from being 'hip' in the first place. But, I digress.)

M built both of our boys toddler beds about a year and a half ago and they were really cute, but I hadn't settled on decorations and colors for the kids' room at the time. Last week I decided to paint (clarification: I decided to paint, but we both actually painted) the boys room after 2 years of living in the house. (Pictures of the newly painted room coming soon!) This led me to pick out bedding that would go with it, which led to wanting to change the look of the beds. You know how that goes.

I took the beds Mike had already made and removed the fabric and batting to reveal the wood underneath. Mike then built the headboards based on this pin I had on one of my Pinterest boards. Then, he attached them to the beds.

I sanded them down and used a stain made from leaving a shredded piece of steel wool in vinegar for 24 hours and then applying it with a paint brush. I sanded once more after the stain dried (it dried SUPER quick; literally a matter of minutes)

The bedding is Dwell Studio from Target. I love the print, it is super soft, and is one of the only reasonably priced toddler bedding I actually liked.

M did such a great job and E especially loves that his headboard looks like a barn door!

What DIY projects have you been working on lately?

love, life, and a smile

We had a fun time at the zoo this morning (a post on that later) with great friends. I am utterly exhausted so OF COURSE I needed a project to keep me awake (since the kids napped at the zoo and in the car - doesn't it always work out that way?). I've been wanting a Mumford & Sons quote displayed somewhere in our living room area that I can see every day. Their music and lyrics brings an instant smile to my face.

So here's a not-so-glam, but super quick project. I already had this frame on one of our living room bookcases with "family" on it. I just ripped off the paper from the circle scrapbook paper backing and replaced it with a quote I designed on the computer using a Pea Noodle font and one I found on another free site. It is just printed on color and printed on a piece of card stock. If you haven't checked out the fonts on the Pea Noodle website, you really are missing out. They are SUPER cute!

It says: "Where you invest your love, you invest your life" from their song Awake My Soul

Happy Thursday everyone!

A little switcheroo

I created a collage on our living room wall not long after we moved into our new house about a year and a half ago. I like the collage IDEA, but I felt like it was a little too busy for the wall above the couch and I just could NOT get used to the brown couches and the black picture frames together. I know some people are totally cool with it, and that's great. But there's just something about it that didn't look quite right to me.

SO, I've been thinking of making some large frames from old wood for a while, but soon figured out that making frames was a lot harder than it seemed. About 2 weeks ago, M had given me the day off to get some errands done. So, NATURALLY I made my way to DSW, Ross and Hobby Lobby. I'm VERY productive like that. :)

That day Hobby Lobby just happened to have all of their frames 50% off. I wanted to browse the sale but didn't really think I would find what I was looking for.

But then there they were. In all their glory. Beaming in a light shining from above.

Ok, not really. But they WERE just what I was looking for. Rustic, old, beautiful wood. And I love the coordination with the couches. It's a much cleaner look than before.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

When M got home from work, I showed him my project for the day and asked if he liked it. He proceeded to say, "Yeah, I really like it.....now can we keep it that way for at least a year?" I just laughed. Who is he kidding? And where would the fun be in that? I need the OPTION of rearranging, repurposing, recreating household items to keep my creative juices flowing. You ladies know what I mean. (At least that's what I told M to back up my opinion!)

{Paint Color: Sherwin Williams Rice Grain matched in Home Depot's Behr, Off-white fray swirl pillows-Marshall's, Suzani print pillow-Etsy shop, Picture Frames-Hobby Lobby}